Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim looks on Oct. 31st, 2001, during a press conference outside the Office of the Mayor at City Hall Annex on the day a federal grand jury indicted him on 24 felony charges including racketeering, bribery, extortion, mail fraud and tax evasion.

Mayor Joseph Ganim with his wife Jennifer surrounded by media in front of U.S. District Court in New Haven, Conn. on March 18th, 2003. The next day, Ganim was found guilty on 16 of 21 federal corruption charges.

Former Bridgeport Mayor Joseph Ganim, center, and his attorneys Harold Rosnick, left, and George Ganim, right, in Bridgeport, Conn. Sept. 11th, 2012. Ganim appeared in front of a three judge panel Tuesday in his effort to regain his law license. He was convicted in 2003 of federal corruption, and served seven years of a nine year sentence.

BRIDGEPORT -- Joseph P. Ganim might run for mayor again, but he'll have to do it without a law license.

The state Supreme Court, in a 26-page decision that questioned Ganim's lack of remorse for past political corruption and the local panel of lawyers that says he is fit to practice law again, said Ganim cannot be a lawyer again.

"The defendant's failure to either explain, or acknowledge any responsibility for, his extensive criminal wrongdoing, or to express remorse for that wrongdoing, was a highly relevant consideration in the particular reinstatement proceeding in the present case," the court stated in its ruling.

Ganim declined to comment on the ruling.

"This is a blow for decency in state politics," proclaimed Bridgeport City Councilman Rick Torres, R-130. "I know Joe was waiting for this decision, hopeful that a ruling (that) he could have his law license back would be an impetus for getting back into city politics, and I'm glad the Supreme Court has rejected him.

"He violated the public's trust in a massive way and he should never get his law license back or be allowed to be involved in Bridgeport politics again."

Democratic Town Committee Chairman Mario Testa said he was unhappy the appeals court won't allow Ganim to regain his license, but he said he didn't feel it would affect Ganim's political future.

"As far as I know, he doesn't intend to run for anything again," Testa said.

Councilman Robert Halstead, D-132, also spoke in support of Ganim after the ruling.

"I know he did things that weren't right, but I also think he has suffered enough and should get his law license back," Halstead said. "After a while, grudges should be forgotten."

Former City Councilman John Olson had previously supported the return of Ganim's license.

"I think if he had showed some remorse and said, `Yeah I screwed up,' he would be getting it back, but he just won't do that," Olson said Wednesday. "It's a real tragedy."

In 2012, a panel of three Superior Court judges rejected Ganim's request to restore his license, ruling that Ganim, who had been convicted and served time in a federal prison on corruption charges, had shown no remorse.

"Allowing an applicant to be readmitted to the practice of law following a conviction on 16 counts of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud, bribery and filing false income tax returns without any apology, expression of remorse, or explanation, and with only a vague acceptance of an unspecified event, simply would set the bar for readmission too low in the state, and we are unwilling to do that," the panel of Superior Court judges, Julia DiCocco Dewey, Elliot Solomon and Barbara Bellis, stated that 36-page decision.

The three-judge panel held several days of hearings to make a final decision on the application.

The closest Ganim came to showing remorse was when he testified before the Fairfield County Standing Committee, a committee of local lawyers that in 2012 recommended his reinstatement.

"I had a fair trial, I had good lawyers, I had a fair judge and I live and stand by the result," he said. "I accept the verdict, I was found guilty. I accept that, I acknowledge that. I took an appeal. I lost."

Ganim, who served as Bridgeport's mayor from 1991 to 2003 and at one time was considered a contender for a Democratic gubernatorial nomination, was convicted March 19, 2003, on federal racketeering and bribery charges. He was sentenced by federal Judge Janet Arterton to nine years in prison, fined $150,000 and ordered to pay $148,617 in restitution.

According to testimony at trial, Ganim and his associates operated a "pay-to-play" operation in which local developers had to pay them bribes to get preferential deals with the city.

Following his early release from prison in 2010, Ganim has worked as a legal assistant at his family's law firm here and started a counseling firm for others headed to federal prison.

In its July 2012 recommendation that Ganim get his law license back, the standing committee said he had "met and exceeded" the requirements for admission.

But in its decision, the Supreme Court ruled the committee ignored a number of serious factors in reaching its decision.

"In the face of receiving neither an acknowledgment of responsibility, nor some other plausible explanation, for the defendant's extensive record of proven criminal misconduct, and in light of the other factors weighing against him, the Standing Committee simply was not justified in concluding that that misconduct no longer disqualified the defendant from practicing law due to his moral unfitness," the court said.

"It bears repeating that the purpose of suspending an attorney from the practice of law is not to impose additional punishment," the court stated, "but to protect the courts and the public."